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Kti
Background The Ktarh language (Kti: "ktehanarā", /ktɛxanaˈra:/) is one of the major languages on Oktarhazǣm. It is the most widely spoken Dnaric language, with several bilion speakers. It is made up of several dialect clusters and one standard variety; the dialects are decreasing in usage due to official government policy. Dialectically, Kti is divided into the following clusters and dialects: :- Dialects of Tanu ::'- Upper' Tanarh ::'- Lower' Tanarh ::'- Peninsular' Tanarh :::'- Acrolectic' peninsular (lingua franca) :::'- Basilectic' peninsular :- Peripheric Ktarh ::'- Insular' dialects ::'- Eastern' dialects :::'- Coastal' eastern :::'- Inland' eastern ::'- Southern' dialects The acrolectic peninsular Tanarh dialect is usually taken as the closest form to standard Kti. Phonology Vowels There are six cardinal vowels (A E U I O Æ) each representing one cardinal phonemic value of /a ɛ u i ɔ ɞ/ and each cardinal vowel has two lengths that have minimal pairs and allophonic variants depending on position. The vowels /a: ɛ: u: i: ɔ: ɞ:/ remain more constant to their value than their short variants. They are organised as such in the vowel space: Allophony Each of the twelve vowels have allphones that are dependant on their position. Diphthongs Dipthongs are combinations of two vowels. They don't change according to position. They're counted as a single long vowel in length. When both a diphthong + peripherial vowel and a triphthong are possible, the former gets chosen over the latter. The first component of the diphthong is always semivocalic. Tripthongs Tripthongs are combinations of three vowels. They don't change according to position. They're counted as an overlong vowel or as a dipthong + short vowel in length. Every triphthong has a central element. Consonants Kti has 12 cardinal consonants ( Sh, S, Z, Zh, K, T, D, H, M, N, R, ' ). They are distributed unevenly along five points of articulation, labial, alveolar,' postalveolar', velar and glottal. *These are allophonic variations of an underlying phoneme. Allophony The allophonic variations of consonants are far smaller than in vowels. The only consonants that have a variable pronounciation are /k/ and /x/. Allophony of /k/ The realisation of /k/ as [k ~ kj] is an enviromental feature. [k'] and ['kj] are in complementary distribution before vowels. /k/ is realised as [k'] before /a/, /u/, /ɔ/ and /ɞ/ and consonants, while ['kj] is seen only sometimes before /i/ and /ɛ/. In initial positions, [k'] is always pronounced as such, and an analysis of ['kj] as an allophone can be considered correct as [k'] seems to be the underlying element and therefore the priviledged value. Allophony of /x/ The realisation of /x/ is far more simple, as ['h] is a simple allophonic equivalent of [x'] as it occurs only in initial positions. Unlike ['k] and [kj] which share one grapheme, [x'] and ['h] are differentiated in the orthography. Sometimes, when [x'] is put instead of ['h], it can be assumed that the previous word is linked with the current one via compounding, phrasing or some sort of derivation, therefore giving rise to certain minimal pairs that don't chage the meaning of one word but of a phrase; this phenomenon occurs only in very fast speech. The view that [h'] is an allophone of /'x/ is still held, though. Phonotacics Phonotactics of Kti is divided into syllable rules and combinatorics. Syllables Ktarh syllables have the following general structure: Syllables sometimes tend to hoard consonants taken from previous syllables, thus sometimes reaching three initials. It should be noted that a post-vocalic glottal stop resets syllable rules, thus always starting a new syllable after it. Stress Prosodic stress is very syllable-dependant and there are relatively complex rules that are governed by syllable position and structure. Stress is pretty regular in that it is generally found in the penultimate syllable unless something else happened. If the word is monosyllabilic, the stress is on the sole syllable. A syllable is counted as "light" if it has a short vowel, and "heavy" if it has a long vowel, diphthong or triphthong. If a stressed light syllable is in between a stressed and an unstressed heavy syllable, the stress shifts to the heavy syllable. If both a heavy penultimate and a heavy antepenultimate exist, the stress shifts to the antepenultimate. If a heavy syllable is surrounded by two light syllables, one of which is stressed, the stress will always be on the first. Combinatorics Ktarh phonotactical combinatorics deals with combinations of vowels and consonant clusters. It deals with the conditions that must be met for the combination to be legal. The rules are listed as such: #"Z" and "Sh" cannot be next to any fricative but can be near other consonants #"T" cannot be preceeded by a nasal #"T" cannot be followed by any plosive except the glottal stop #"D" cannot be followed by alveolars #"A" cannot be next to "Æ" except when either vowel is a part of a greater whole (diph/triphthong) #Two of the same phoneme cannot be together in roots (this causes gemination) Using these rules and the phonology, we can formulate the following combinations: /md/ /mk/ /mʔ/ /ms/ /mz/ /mʃ/ /mʒ/ /mx/ /mr/ /mn/ /nd/ /nk//nʔ/ /ns/ /nz/ /nʃ/ /nʒ/ /nx/ /nm/ /nr/ /st/ /sd/ /sk/ /sʔ/ /sʒ/ /sx/* /sm/ /sn/ /sr/ /zt/ /zd//zk/ /zʔ/ /zm/ /zn/ /zr/ /xt/ /xd/ /xk/ /xʔ/ /xs/ /xʒ/ /xm/ /xn/ /xr/ /rt/ /rd/ /rk/ /rʔ/ /rs/ /rʃ/ /rx/ /rm/ /rn/ /tʔ/ /ts/ /tz/ /tʃ/ /tʒ/ /tx/ /tm/ /tn/ /dʃ/ /dʒ/ /dn/ /dm/ /dr/ /ae/ /au/ /aɔ/ /aɛ/ /ua/ /uɛ/ /uɔ/ /uɞ/ /ɛi/ /iɛ/ /iu/ /iɔ/ /ɔa/ /ɔɛ/ /uɛ/ /uɔ/ /uɞ/ /ɞa/ /ɞɛ/ /ɞi/ /ɞɔ/ /ɞu/ Vowel combinations apply to long vowels as well. */sx/ is only theoretical and doesn't occur in practice. In actuality, the cluster /sx/ metathesises into /xs/ invariably. Phonotactics The Glottal Stop (' ' ' ) resets syllable rules so after it a new syllable begins. ﻿﻿Grammar Syntax Kti is a Verb-Object-Subject language, which means that the first major/important word is (usually) the verb, followed by an optional object, then a subject. In Kti, adjectives come before nouns and pronouns, adverbs before verbs and p/articles mostly occur prior to the word they relate to, except when stated otherwise. This all defines Kti as a strongly head-final language, with head-final phrases and head-final compounds. Pronouns Pronouns in Kti are, in essence, fossilised nouns, repurposed postpositions and determiners, and semanitcally bleached "waste" words such as conjuncts and expletives. They decline as inanimate nouns of the corresponding gender. Nouns Nouns are used to describe objects, beings, events and other things. Declension In Kti, nouns have multiple grammatical categories. They are as follows: #'Animacy' #'Genders' #'Number' #'Cases' Animacy Kti has a complex animacy system, with several levels of animacy (how "alive" something is). Animacy is usually divided into the following categories: Dead: members of this group have been alive at an earlier point in time, but is no longer among the living. Inanimate: members of this group have never been alive, and due to that fact they cannot die. Critters: members of this group are unintelligent or semi-intelligent and alive, yet are less intelligent than the group below. Sentient: members of this grop are sentient, perhaps even sapient, and are capable of abstract thought, speech, logical thinking and reasoning. As with critters, they are alive, else they'd belong to the group of the dead. Declining nouns through animacy is somewhat different from other declensions, as it doesn't attach prefixes or suffixes, but it adds an infix before the last vowel. If the last vowel is at the very end of the word, the infix is before the vowel preceeding the last one. Note: these extensions are added to the stem change the animacy of the noun. ×Sentient is considered the default animacy, inanimate and critter are not allowed. Gender There are three genders in Kti, masculine, feminine and mechanoid. *The male form is the basic form, with no special ending ×The mechanoid is lexical, not morphological. Number Nouns in Kti distinguish three numbers, grouped into two sets. The first set is the singular set, containing only the singular number. The singular, glossed , expresses the concept of one instance of something, or a complex in a state of unity (a rug of leaves, a field of flowers). The second set is the set of multiples, containing the dual and plural. *The dual, glossed , expresses the concept of two instances of something, or a complex in a state of duality (eyes, stars in a binary system). *The plural, glossed , expresses the concept of many instances, a myriad. Cases The case of a noun or pronoun is a change in form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. Cases usually indicate where is what according to what, the main senteance parts or grammatical roles, and the direction of movement. Kti has an extraordinary amount of cases (28 cases) and each case has singular, plural, mechanoid, feminine, and masculine forms, and there can be multiple forms per category depending on the word. Kti, being a nominative-accusative language, has the nominative as the basic case. =Declining through Cases = As mentioned, the 28 Kti cases each have multiple declensions depending on their ending, containment of voiced/unvoiced fricatives, gender, animacy and others. The declensions are divided into three types: Masculine, Feminine and Mechanoid. Changes such as fricative de/voicing, vowel removal, vowel change come in some cases. The following tables depict masculine: |} Notes: '' ''*If in contact with a vowel, said vowel is removed and suffix attached as represented ²The vowel indicated in the brackets is added if the suffix doesn't have contact with a vowel ³The consonant in the brackets is added if the suffix is in contact with a vowel |} *Removes any vowels that might cause phonotactical troubles. |} Notes: *If in contact with a vowel, the vowel is removed and suffix attached as represented ²The vowel indicated in the brackets is added if the suffix doesn't have contact with a vowel ³The consonant in the brackets is added if the suffix is in contact with a vowel =Syntactical Roles = The section of Case Syntactical Roles covers the use of cases to represent roles in syntax. The following is the list of cases and their common syntactical roles: #'Nominative '- Subject of verbs, rarely indirect object #'Genitive -' Origin, material, rarely indirect object #'Dative '- Direction, beneficiary, sometimes indirect object #'Accusative '- Direct object, dynamic location #'Vocative '- No distinct role, person to whom the talk is directed #'Instrumental '- Instrument or company #'Locative' - Either general static location or topic of conversation #'Reflexive '- Both the subject and either direct or indirect object, varies #'Intrative '- Inside of modified word #'Inessive '- Varies, generally the location between modified words, or between instances of word if plural #'Subessive' - Location below modified word #'Ablative '- Motion from or object recieved from the modified word #'Allative - '(On)to the modified word #'Delative' - Moving from (the top of) modified word #'Elative' - Out of modified word #'Illative '- Into the modified word #'Sublative '- To under the modified word #'Perlative - '''Through the modified word #'Prosecutive''' - Along the modified word #'Antessive '- Before the modified word #'Abessive '- Without the modified word, lacking the modified word #'Revertive' - Against the modified word #'Identical '- Marks the modified words as being the same #'Ornative '- Marks the part of the word as having the second, the second is marked #'Adventive' - Marks the word as foreign #'Possessive' - Marks the word as a possessor of some other word #'Partitive' - Marks the first part of the word as a vital segment of the second, the first is marked #'Anessive' - Marks the word as a receiver of despise or being feared or avoided by some other word Demonyms Demonyms most commonly refer to parts of a whole, or belonging to that whole. Note that it is seperate from the cases, such as the Possessive and the Partitive case. In English, they describe nationality (English, German, Russian, Israeli), language (German, Hebrew,' Chinese') among others. In Kti, there is one specific way to determin demonyms, look for the extension -arh (Oktarh, Ktarh,' Britarh', Deutscharh), but creating demonyms from nouns is far more difficult. There is no specific rule for making demonyms, and that makes expressing nationalities seperate from cases difficult. If you want to make them, you should read through some demonyms and try to 'feel' the rules which demonyms follow. Note that demonyms always are made from source nouns and are written as so in the latin alphabet, and if the phonology of the word doesn't fit into the Ktarh one, the nearest/most simmilar consonant/vowel is selected to fit. Verbs Verbs are words that describe action, the one who completes the action, time of completion and such. The verbs are divided into auxiliary and main verbs. Acting auxiliary '''verbs are used to provide further syntatic or semantic info to '''main verbs. Main 'verbs represent the main action and make up the main body count of verbs. Verbs in Kti are conjugated according to: #'Object gender #'Tense' #'Number' #'Person' #'Voice' #'Mood' #'Aspect' Object Agreement Ktarh verbs have a set of prefixes that agree the verbs to their direct objects only. This feature, called object agreement, gives Kti the status of a borderline polysynthetic language. The suffixes are: Verbs in Kti agree to their object's gender and animacy - certain combinations lack a form. These prefixes are optional and can be excluded without fear of loss of information. Tense Tenses represent the temporal value of the referenced actions. Tenses branch into simple and more complex. Simple '''tenses are the basic tenses, self-sufficient and needn't have acting auxiliary verbs. '''Complex tenses use simple tenses of acting auxiliary and main verbs to be formed, and usually represent actions with certain parts in more than one time. Among others, the most common tenses are simple present, past, and future 'tenses in Kti, each expressing their corresponding period, and there are tenses with multiple possible times (future/present for example) which, for example, describe an action which has started in the past and has finished at the time of utterance. 'Basic Tenses Basic tenses are tenses that are formed only via the infinitive, without other verbs to meddle in the process. These verbs contrast with Compex Tenses, and those are formed by combining various different things. ='Present Simple' = A verb in the simple present describes an action which is happening now, at the time of utterance. The following table depicts the present simple of the verb 'to be' (kin): Because 'kin' is irregular, the table doesn't apply to other verbs, but only to 'kin'. The rules governing Present Simple are different. Let's take the verb 'to love' (kuhiton) for example: As 'kuhiton' is a regular verb, its suffixes are by extension also regular - it shares its suffixes with other irregular verbs. The suffixes for Present Simple are: ='Past Simple' = The simple past denotes the action happening prior to the present. The action in question may possibly have been completed but its goal wasn't accomplished. The verb 'kin' in the simple past: The suffixes for the simple past are: In the following example, I will use the regular verb "to speak a language (s'mnaraiton)" in the following example: =Past Aorist = The past aorist marks the action happening in the past. The action in question isn't marked for either completion or accomplishmnent of goal. The verb 'kin' in the past aorist: And here is an examle of the verb 'irineton' (to be infected with something): And here are the endings: In the plural form, the vowel of the second syllable is removed and replaced with an infix. This time, the infix is '-ami-' Here are the Past Aorist rules: #'The ending -ton which marks the verb as an infinitive is removed and corresponding suffixes are added.' #'If by removal the vowels 'i' or 'æ', or plosive consonants are exposed, they are removed as well.' #'The infix '-ami-' is added in between the ending and the original verb.' #'Past Aorist is used for:' ## Describing an action in its pure form, without duration or completion. ' ##'Naming a past action. #'The action is in its pure, timeless form, therefore we don't know if it ended, how long it lasted etc. except that it had at least a part of itself in the past.' Complex Tenses Complex tenses are formed via the basic verb forms . These tenses use acting auxiliary verbs in combination with the main verb. The complex tenses are the Pluperfect'', Future Simple, ''Present Periodic, Past Periodic '''and the '''Future Periodic. For the complex tenses, there are almost no exceptions such as irregular verbs because most verbs follow the tense's rules. If something cannot be expressed using tenses, that can be done with the mood, aspect or voice. =Pluperfect = The Pluperfect, refers to a distant past action ( as in English 'had thought' ) and the action has already been completed. All acting auxilary verbs have the prefix 'de-' added to them in the Present Simple to make the verb's Pluperfect. For main verbs, you need to take the Aorist of the main verb and the Pluperfect of 'kin' (dekni, for example). The following table demonstrates 'shuneton' (to help) in the Pluperfect: These are the rules governing the Pluperfect: #'The Pluperfect form of 'kin' is taken and added prior to the Aorist of the main verb.' #'It represents a past action, further into the past than the Past Simple.' #'We know that the action ended some time in the past and lasted for a certain amount of time.' #'Auxiliary verbs, as in all the complex tenses, have a prefix (here being 'de-').' =Future Simple = Future Simple 'is the tense which represents an action that has yet to happen, and is going to last a certain amount of time before possibly finishing. Acting auxiliary verbs in Future Simple have the prefix 'ra-' added before their Present Simple form to make them future. This also applies to the verb 'to move' (nauton). The verb 'kin' in Future Simple: Turning a main verb into a future simple verb is easy: take the infinitive of the main verb and add 'kin' in the Future Simple before the main verb. Here are '''Future Simple '''rules: #'The Future Simple form of 'kin' is taken and is added prior to the infinitive of the main verb (the only exception is 'nauton'). #'It represents a future action that is yet to happen.' #'We predict or know that the action is going to begin and end in the future.' #'Auxiliary verbs, as in all the complex tenses, and the verb 'nauton' have a prefix (here being 'ra-').' =Past Periodic = Past Periodic is the tense that designates the verb as happening in the past, with intermediate brakes inbetween each occurance. An example would be "The wind blew", with the gusts of wind spread across the past. Technically, the Past Periodic and simmilar tenses are in fact tenses, since verbs are found in both perfective and imperfective aspects. Simply put, the pastt periodic is formed by adding an acting preposition, the permanently infinitive verb k'nazhiton (wanting/to want) prior to the verb in Past Aorist. The following example represents the Present Periodic form of the verb s'mnazheton(to continuously exterminate): Here are Past Periodic 'rules: #'The infinitive form of K'nazhiton is added prior to the verb. #'It represents a past action happening in temporally seperated occurances' #'We predict or know that the action happened in the past, with instances seperated by periods of time' =Present Periodic = Present Periodic'is the tense that designates the verb as happening now, with intermediate brakes inbetween each occurance. An example would be "It rains", with rain not flooding in a continuous sheet, but in periodic, occasional drops. Technically, the Present Periodic and simmilar tenses are in fact tenses, since verbs are found in both perfective and imperfective aspects. Simply put, the present periodic is formed by adding an acting preposition, the permanently infinitive verb k'nazhiton (wanting/to want) prior to the verb in Present Simple. The following example represents the Present Periodic form of the verb suzoton (to drip): Here are '''Present Periodic '''rules: #'The infinitive form of K'nazhiton is added prior to the verb. #'It represents a present action happening in temporally seperated occurances' #'We predict or know that the action is happening in the present, with instances seperated by periods of time' =Future Periodic = Future Periodic is the tense that designates the verb as in the future, with intermediate brakes inbetween each occurance. An example would be "They will be falling", with the mentioned objects falling seperately. Technically, the Future Periodic and simmilar tenses are in fact tenses, since verbs are found in both perfective and imperfective aspects. Simply put, the future periodic is formed by adding an acting preposition, the permanently infinitive verb k'nazhiton (wanting/to want) prior to the verb in Future Simple. The following example represents the Future Periodic form of the verb hoton (to stop/stand up): Here are Future Periodic 'rules: #'The infinitive form of K'nazhiton is added prior to the verb. #'It represents a future action happening in temporally seperated occurances' #'We predict or know that the action will happen in the future, with instances seperated by periods of time' Voice In grammar, the voice (also called diathesis) of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.). When the subject is the agent or doer of the action, the verb is in the Active Voice. When the subject is the patient, target or undergoer of the action, it is said to be in the Passive Voice. The passive voice is further divided into the Dynamic and Static 'passives. 'Active and Passive Voices The Active Voice, being the default one (I love/kuhitei) has no markers to represent it. The Passive Voice, on the other hand, uses markers which change according to person. ='Static Passive' = The Static Passive '''voice represents an action which is done by the agent, not the subject, and the subject usually being the patient. 'The hunter is killed by the bear' is an example of that type of passive. The marker corresponding to the static passive is ' '''u'ru ' and it changes according to the person, but not number. It is added after the verb and it's declined according to the following pattern: The marker is added after the verb and modifies the preceding verb. ='Dynamic Passive' = The Dynamic Passive voice represents an action which is being completed by an unknown and irrelevant agent and the subject being usually the patient. 'The lawn is being mown' is an example of the Dynamic Passive. The marker corresponding to the dynamic passive is ' ara'ma ' and it also changes only according to person: The dynamic passive marker is added before the verb and modifies the following verb. 'Mediopassive Voice' The Mediopassive 'voice represents an action that "just happened by itself" and refers almost exclusively to negative actions. An example in English would be "The glass broke". The Mediopassive voice marks the subject (and object) in the '''Reflexive '''case and is reckognised by a reflexive agent. 'Mood Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive forms that are used to signal modality. Moods vary in their usage and purpose. In English, the Imperative (I command you to eat! ) is substantially different from the Indicative (John ate 'apples), although this doesn't apply to all languages. Moods are divided into the Realis and '''Irrealis '''moods. 'Realis moods Realis moods are a category of grammatical moods that indicate that something is actually the case or actually not the case (Cats are fast, Mary didn't cry). Kti realis moods are the Indicative, Speculative, Generic, and the Implicative 'moods. ='Indicative = The Indicative mood designates an action that is or isn't the case. ='Generic' = The Generic '''mood describes an attribute of something. This can be shown in the senteance 'Cats are fast', where the verb 'to be' is in the Generic mood. Here, it too doesn't have a special verb form to represent the Generic. The pattern for the Generic mood follows: where the Patient can be 'Cats' and Attribute 'Fast', where 'To be' can be in any tense, voice, person etc. The example 'Cats are fast' would be transformed to 'Are fast cats'. Note: You can only take the active voice for the Generic. ='''Speculative = The Speculative 'mood describes an action that might be true, but may not be, too. It is formed by adding the following suffixes: 'Irrealis moods Irrealis moods are the opposite of realis moods, as in they don't indicate that something is or isn't the case. This can be represented in the following senteance: 'Go eat! ' where the verbs 'to eat' and 'to go' are in the imperative. Kti Irrealis moods are the Imperative, Conditional I, Conditional II, the Obligative and the Impositive moods. ='Imperative' = The Imperative mood indicates a command or obligation. It can also indicate a request. You can form the Imperative by taking the present simple of the verb in the active voice, either the first or second person, then add the suffixes corresponding to the ending: If the verb root ends in the vowel '-i', add '-re', but if it ends in a consonant, add '-an'. ='Conditional I' = Conditional I, or as it is commonly written, the First Conditional, is one of two possible conditionals. The first conditional represents an action whose needs haven't been fulfilled ( Snails would be fast if they were to evolve jet engines and wings to lift off and fly away ). It is represented this way: O- => VERB => Ne => CONDITION(S) Here, 'O- ' is the prefix which denotes the first conditional, you probably know what 'VERB' is, 'Ne' is a special word just for the conditionals, and 'CONDITION(S)' come afterwards. If you have multiple conditions, you will need special rules to make a phrase which makes sense: CONDITION 1 => æt => CONDITION 2 => ...''ad infinitum'' The word 'æt' is a connector which links the conditions, it would roughly mean 'and', but has a much narrower meaning. ='Conditional II' = Conditional II, or as it is commonly written, the Second Conditional, is one of two possible conditionals. The second conditional represents an action whose needs have been fulfilled ( John ate because he was hungry ). It is repesented in the following manner: Ra- => VERB => Ne => CONDITION(S) Here, 'Ra- ' is the prefix which denotes the second, you should know what 'VERB' is, 'Ne' is a special word just for the conditionals, and 'CONDITION(S)' come afterwards. If you have multiple conditions, you will need special rules to make a phrase which makes sense, and these rules are shared with the first conditional. Technically, in both conditionals, you could remove the binding word, but it's not common. ='Obligative' = The Obligative 'mood expresses a notion simmilar to English "''ought to..." or "should...". There is no specific translation of obligative verbs. The '''Obligatives of verbs are formed by adding prefixes according to the following rules: ='Impositive' = The Impositive 'mood expresses something like English "''are supposed to..." or "be expected to...". The '''Impositives of verbs are formed by adding a marker after the verb. The following pattern demonstrates the forms of the marker: Aspect The aspect describes a temporal flow of a verb, or a lack of the same. Aspect can be explained in English with the senteances 'I eat' and 'I am eating'. The first one is nonprogressive while the other is progressive. In Kti, the aspects are Perfective 'and Nonperfective. These aspects aren't usually distinguished on a morphological level, but the aspect is embedded into their meaning. Perfective Aspect The perfective aspect describes an action which cannot go on forever. In English, it would sound like: 'I finished eating'. To make a nonperfective verb perfective, suffixes can be added at the very end of the word. This can be shown in the following example: 'Kuhinirai' would roughly correspond to 'I loved but it's finished/but I do not love anymore'. The verb can be in any tense, any voice, mood or person to be changed. The suffixes are: '-rai' if the verb ends in a vowel, '-am' if the verb ends in a consonant, '-deku' if the verb contains a glottal stop and ends in a vowel, and '-iti' if the verb contains a glottal stop and ends in a consonant. Imperfective Aspect The imperfective aspect describes an action which can go on forever. In English, it would sound like: 'I am eating and I can continue eating indefinately'. It isn't possible to make a perfective verb imperfective, as that would sound like: 'I am going to sit down and sitting down will go on forever', but making imperfective verbs out of simmilar perfective verbs is described inside the section of derivation. Negation Extra The extras of Kti's verb system fit in here if they don't fit in other categories 'Formality Kti doesn't have a formality system present in any of its morphological paradigms, but features some remnants of an older system remain in the syntax and lexicon; it's generally considered polite to put the verb in initial position (the normal unmarked form in the language, although it is to a large degree nonconfigurational) and to put the verb before its complements (to further emphasise the verb-initiality). Adjectives Adjectives always preceed the noun they modify, and due to syntactical and phonological rules, a whole noun phrase is considered one word. The adjective is unmarked for case, but only for gender, animacy and number. Adjectives can act as prefixes to nouns, and as such are not modified for case since the noun itself is. Comparation Ktarh adjectives have orders of magnitude to describe how well defined an attribute the adjective bears is. This can range from the basic, unmodified form (red) to the most advanced (reddest). The levels are as listed in the following table: Negative Comparation Unlike most Earthly natural languages, Kti also contains a system of negative comparation that defines the noun lacking the root attribute. These levels are listed according to their magnitude of negativity, according to how unlike the root adjective they are. The following table shows the negative levels: Declining Adjectives The following tables contain all the prefixes for adjective declension: Compounding and Derivation Kti, being a language artificially kept in place, almost never tolerates new word formation, therefore to transmit information not formally possible with classical words, word synthesis and derivation are heavily relied upon. Derivation is used to form new words from old ones. The methods are divided into five categories, complexity ascending: Simple Compounding, Complex Compounding, Simple Derivation, Advanced Derivation and Inversion. 'Simple Compounding' The method of simple compounding deals with one nominal word or a verb fused with non-nominal or non-verbial word. Sometimes, due to the nature of syllable structure, additional processes operate. The process of simple compounding deals primarily with choice of the two words. To understand the choice, one must understand the types of words: The only words not meant for simple compounding are conjuctions. All other words are eligible for every form of derivation. The only limiting factor in simple compounding is the limited choice of words. If the second word's initial syllable contains two consonants that aren't in a cluster, and the first word ends in one consonant, the second word sheds the first consonant. If both words at the compounding border have a consonant, the last consonant of the first word dissapears. Simple compounds can only form with words of differing classes - nominals cannot compound with other nominals by way of simple compounding, but by way of complex (same applies to verbals and particles). 'Complex Compounding' Now here things get interesting. Complex compounding deals with making new words out of stock ones. This is the main wordbuilding process in the Ktarh language. As its name implies, it is far more complex than the other compounding system. Complex compounding certain rules which alter the verbs in relation to one another. Only words of same classes can compound by way of complex compounding. Dictionary In progress Example text Featured language banner Original text This language was once featured. Thanks to its level of quality, plausibility and usage capabilities, it has been voted as featured. Translated Text Dektai ara'nai sererem a nimani. Seremai ne i'rim, æt s'narena, æt marinamineton, dektai ara'nai mare serena ose. Breakdown in Kti de-ktai ara'nai sere-rem a nimani. Ra-sere-mai ne ivrim, æt s'narena, æt marinamineton, de-ktai ara'nai mare serene ose. Breakdown in English language be-PLUP-3PS DPASS.MARKER good-AOR BINDER distinguished-ADJ good-COND2-PAST BINDER quality and plausibility and potential, be-PLUP DPASS.MARKER select-ADJ good-ADJ-NONFEM 3RD.SNG.INANIM Translation to English This language was once distinguished. Due to its quality, plausibility and potential, it has been selected and featured. Literal Translation Language was good. Was good, distinguished, good, quality, plausibility, potential, was selected good it. ---- Category:Languages Category:Kti